The Manton Collection of British Art

The Manton Collection of British Art, which includes more than two hundred paintings, drawings, and prints by Gainsborough, Constable, Turner, and others, was the creation of business leader and arts patron Sir Edwin A. G. Manton (1909–2005) and his wife Florence, Lady Manton (1911–2003). Born in Essex County, just twenty miles from "Constable Country" in the east of England, Sir Edwin arrived in New York in 1933 to help lead the development of the American International Group. He lived the remainder of his life in the United States, though his love of British art, which he and his wife began collecting in the 1940s, was testimony to his continued devotion to his native country.

Sir Edwin was knighted by Queen Elizabeth in 1994 for his generous contributions to the Tate Gallery in London (now Tate Britain). Through it all, his appetite for collecting art never diminished. "I am a compulsive buyer," he once observed. "It's better than spending your money on bottles of Scotch." This magnificent collection, a gift from the Manton Foundation in 2007, constitutes the most significant acquisition of art by the Clark since its founding in 1955 and perfectly complements the Clark's outstanding holdings of nineteenth-century French and American art.

Circle of Thomas GainsboroughEnglish, 1727–1788A Wooded Landscape with a Village on a Hilltop and Figures on a Lane in FrontBlack and white chalk on laid paper mounted on card, oval10 x 13 1/4 in. (25.4 x 33.7 cm)

Circle of Thomas GainsboroughEnglish, 1727–1788A River Landscape with Two Cows and a Figure on a Bridgec. 1744–45Oil on canvas14 1/8 x 11 3/8 in.